Tuesday, July 16, 2013

We must take a serious look at our laws and how they are enforced

Most
people are for law and order, and most obey the laws that keep society
functioning. And most have great respect for the men and women who have the
sometimes-dangerous job of enforcing those laws.

That
said, some laws are just plain dumb and should be done away with, and what is
more important, there are so many laws, rules and regulations today that no one
can know all the decrees from the federal, state and local governments that
affect him or her, and therefore it is impossible to obey them all. This
over-regulated environment puts each of us in the position of likely being in
violation of one or more of them at any given moment.

What's
worse than so many decrees from so many sources, however, is what seems to be a
growing tendency of law enforcement agencies at all levels to imagine that even
tiny infractions warrant the most dramatic responses.

Case
in point: After making a purchase at a Charlottesville, Va. grocery store one
night, a 20-year-old University of Virginia student and two roommates were
approached in their car by a group of six men and one woman in street clothes.
"They were showing unidentifiable badges after they approached us, but we
became frightened, as they were not in anything close to a uniform," she
recalled in a written account of the incident.

Police
say one of the group jumped on the hood of her car. The girl said one drew a
gun, and they tried to break out car windows. Unsure who they were, the girl
tried to flee the dark parking lot and called 911. Given the circumstances and stories
of people being assaulted by phony police officers, who could blame her?

It
turned out to be a squad of plainclothes state Alcoholic Beverage Control
officers who suspected the girl had purchased beer in the store – she hadn’t –
and was under-age. She spent the night in jail as a result.

Question:
Who at the ABC thought this procedure actually made sense? Is it reasonable for
a squad of plainclothes agents to approach three female college students in a
dark parking lot, fail to adequately identify themselves, point a gun at them,
jump on their car and try to break out the windows because they think one of
them had bought beer that she might not be old enough to purchase?

Prosecutors
dropped charges against the young woman, describing her as having panicked at
the sight of plainclothes agents who approached her and her roommates.

Case
2: When the Leander, Texas police wanted to serve a warrant on Bradly Simpson,
they sent officers to his home. When no one responded to the knock on the front
door, a couple of officers walked around the side of the house toward the back
yard whereupon they saw two German Shepards coming toward them. One officer
pulled his gun and fired three shots. The police said the dog was growling and
aggressively coming at them. Fortunately, the officer’s aim was not good and
only one of the dogs was hit, but only wounded.

After
that spectacle, the police were unable to serve the warrant because they were at
the wrong address, and in the wrong neighborhood. Worse than that, not far from
where the dog was shot the home owners’ terminally-ill six year-old grandchild was
playing.

Worse,
yet, the home owners said neither dog was aggressive, that they were merely
curious about who was visiting their home, and had never behaved the way the
police claimed. And, as it turns out, the lady of the house is a professional
dog trainer, and therefore knows about dog behavior, and furthermore noted that
there are routinely customers visiting her home, so strangers don’t spook her
dogs.

And
what heinous crime prompted the police to go to Mr. Simpson’s home to serve the
warrant? He had an expired vehicle registration.

Leander
police officials say what happened was "an unfortunate accident."
Wrong: What happened is that the police screwed up.

The
number of rogue law enforcement personnel that intentionally abuse their
authority and position is surely very small. Nevertheless, instances of over-aggressive
law enforcement action and plain dumb mistakes like these are indefensible and
intolerable, and there appears to be a growing attitude toward over-aggressive
behavior.

To
maintain the public trust and respect government and law enforcement are going
to have to stop doing stupid and dangerous things like these examples, and even
worse incidents that have caused serious injury and even death for innocent
citizens.

Solutions?
Do we really need so many law enforcement officers that seven of them can spend
nights sitting around in one store parking lot waiting to catch an under-age
person buying beer? Does an expired registration really justify armed police
visiting the vehicle owner’s home?

What
about accountability? Officials that exercise bad judgment or act rashly must be
disciplined, encouraging them to carefully consider how to properly and safely
do their jobs, and also demonstrating that public officials really take
seriously their duty to adequately serve the people they work for.

Update February 9, 2009: The worldwide financial crisis has made it harder on banks and credit card companies are facing rising delinquency...

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